Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening walkthrough/M05

Right from the start, you face a group of Blood-Goyles in the Giantwalker Chamber. They're not vulnerable to your Devil Arm attacks while they're in their normal forms; you have to force them to revert to their statue form first by shooting them. They attack by swooping at you, telegraphed by their quickly flying in circles and screeching as they rush. It's relatively easy to jump over them or side roll, then resume firing. While Ebony & Ivory works fine for this, you can pull out the shotgun if you feel daring and pop one in the face just as it swoops at you. At a close enough range, this instantly turns it to stone. After the first wave of Blood-Goyles is eliminated, take out the second at the other side of the map.

If you're playing the Special Edition, a portal will appear nearby. Enter it to face the boss Jester.

First playthrough:

Jester is not a difficult boss, though he can be annoying at this point. At the start of the fight, fire Ebony & Ivory at him to make him dance and tire him out (attempting to attack him with Devil Arms causes him to teleport away). When he stops dancing and teleports away, this means he's tired and you can begin attacking him with melee to do significant damage. After a few moments, he'll disappear and do one of three orb-based attacks: In the first, he teleports to the center of the ring and creates three portals. The orbs that emerge from them revolve around Jester in a circular motion in varying heights. Standing at the very edge of the ring is safest; you can side roll through the orbs that happen to approach you, and continue firing when it's safe. The second attack involves a orb portal that fires orbs at high velocity at you. They come in waves but do not remain on the map; you can dodge them by jumping or rolling. The last attack is the most unpredictable and involves two portals that spew orbs that bounce around the map randomly. You can roughly tell where an orb is by observing its shadow and dodging as needed.

After each round of attacks, you must tire Jester out again before attempting to use your Devil Arms.

Second playthrough:

There isn't much difference here, except that you have a much stronger arsenal (Spiral trumps Ebony & Ivory when firing at Jester in the 3-portal attack, for example) and that it's easier to avoid damage from the 2-portal attack by staying airborne with Swordmaster aerial combos or Air Raid. Quicksilver can also increase the time you have to deal damage.

With Jester out of the way, head back through the giant door to the Endless Infernum, and go out the other door back into the Chamber of Echoes. Keep climbing up in that direction until you reach a panel on the wall next to a gigantic, illuminated window; examine the panel to place the Astronomical Board in it, opening the previously blocked paths and activating the jump panel on the ground floor. You can either run down the ramps or use the jump panel to reach the now-accessible Vajura.

With it in your possession, return to the blue door near the ground floor and head to the Living Statue Room again. Jump up to the ledge and examine the device in the alcove to use the Vajura and open the cage containing the Soul of Steel. Taking it will cause the doors to seal and demons to appear (Enigmas, Hell Lusts, Hell Gluttonies, depending on difficulty). Defeat them, then head back out the door you came in (not the one at the top of the room).There are several Enigmas and Hell Gluttonies here.

Step on the jump panel in the Chamber of Echoes to quickly reach the top again, and re-enter the yellow door (Endless Infernum). This time, with the Soul of Steel in your possession, you can walk across the chasm that you previously fell into. A Cerberus Combat Adjudicator is on the other side; attain an A stylish rank to break it for a Blue Orb Fragment, then examine the door to unlock it using the Soul of Steel.

The next room contains two objects of interest: The Secret Mission "Untouchable" in the glowing pattern on the wall, wherein you must destroy four highly aggressive Enigmas without getting hit (If this is a first playthrough, you may wish to pass for now. If not, Quicksilver and the Spiral gun will prove highly useful). You can also keep firing Ebony & Ivory at them, at the same time dodging their projectiles; and the damage wheel which activates the elevator nearby. There are no statues to break this time (see Mission 4), but as the elevator ascends, groups of Hell Prides jump onto the elevator. If too many remain on the elevator at once, it will fall back down to the ground floor. Helm Breakers, Stingers, and close-ranged Shotgun blasts are all effective in knocking them off. Clear each group off as they appear until you are transported to the Azure Garden.

There are a few breakables lying around, like the wall-mounted weapons and pots. The ones next to the Divinity Statue give a Green Orb, and for good reason: In the next room, you will face the demon brothers Agni &amp; Rudra The Firestorm.

First playthrough:

There is no one style that is particularly effective at this point, although Trickster may come in handy in a few occasions. Cerberus, however, will prove to be invaluable in this fight. Agni is weak to its ice element, and the two bosses' attacks can be countered by a melee attack of your own; Cerberus' attack speed makes timing your counter much easier (Agni telegraphs his main attack with "Stay down!", and Rudra telegraphs his with a grunt). After one is countered successively a few times, his scimitar is knocked out of his grasp and he collapses for a few seconds, allowing you to deal damage. If you are uncomfortable with this concept, you can jump or side roll to avoid the attack and retaliate that way.

For the two brothers, there is friendly fire. You can stand between the two, dodging as needed, and let them damage each other as they try to attack you. They will also occasionally run off to one side of the room to regroup; be prepared to side roll when each leaps into the air, as he will smash down where you were standing.

Both are able to charge their weapons, increasing their damage and allowing them to use special moves. Agni (the red one) is capable of sending a stream of fire at you with this, and Rudra (blue) can create a whirlwind around himself (easier to avoid). However, you can interrupt the charge-up by dealing significant damage, or if the other accidentally attacks him.

An important thing to note is that if one brother dies before the other, he can take the fallen brother's sword and gain new moves. It's generally not recommended to let this happen; taking note of the boss health meters and focusing your attacks on the one with more health so that both can be defeated within a few seconds of each other is a safer method at this point. A short cutscene where the remaining brother claims both swords ends with him somersaulting off his throne - this does happen in-game, immediately as the cutscene ends - so you must Dash or side roll right away to avoid being crushed. Agni's combined form is less dangerous than Rudra's combined form, though; Agni gains an area attack that has a fixed radius, so you can simply stand far away enough and fire, but Rudra's combined form gains a move that can only be evaded by jumping or rolling at the right time. Both combined forms can still be stunned by countering attacks, but it requires significantly more counters to do so. If you want to kill Agni's or Rudra's combined form using Devil Arms but not guns (this is dangerous but will be faster in this way), you must counter his attacks and he will loses his swords then you have the opportunity to damage him.

Second playthrough:

The strategies are not much different here even though your arsenal has improved. The new style moves, however, do open up some new options.

Agni & Rudra are actually surprisingly fun to use Royal Guard on, since their primary attacks are very clearly telegraphed and the invincibility frame of the straight-up jump can be used with Air Block and Air Just Release after the brothers regroup to take out enormous amounts of health at once. Furthermore, when the cooldown-cancelling ability of Guard is combined with the Spiral gun, you no longer need to kill both bosses at the same time. Against the combined Agni form, you can simply stand back as he uses his radius attack and Guard-cancel Spiral shots, but remember that this is not safe against the combined Rudra form (and Ultimate does NOT guard against his ranged attack).

If you choose to use Gunslinger, you can use Artemis' Multi-Lock to complement your melee damage while both bosses are alive, and use Spiral on the combined Agni form.

After you defeat the two demons, you acquire the Agni & Rudra as a new Devil Arm. Head through the door to complete the mission.